# Import known-dead addresses

`POST /api/v1/address/suppressions`

- Authentication: Secret API key as a bearer token
- Billing: Free.
- Group: Address

Adds up to 10,000 addresses per request to the postal suppression list — a mailing house's return file, a hand-kept list. Each item is a written address or an object of the same fields the single lookup takes, and may name its own `country`; `country` at the top level applies to the rest. Addresses are folded the way a lookup folds them; ones that name no building (no postcode or locality, no street, no house number) are counted as `invalid`. Entries that already exist are never overwritten and are counted as `already_suppressed`. Imported entries are honoured from day one at no credit cost: batch, bulk and monitor runs answer them with reason `suppressed`.

## Request body

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `items` | string[] | yes | 1 to 10,000 addresses. Each item is a written address as a string, or an object of the same fields the single lookup takes. |
| `items[].address` | string | null | no | The whole address written as it would be on an envelope. At most 500 characters. |
| `items[].address_line1` | string | null | no | The street line, when the address arrives separated. At most 255 characters. |
| `items[].address_line2` | string | null | no | At most 255 characters. |
| `items[].organization` | string | null | no | At most 200 characters. |
| `items[].dependent_locality` | string | null | no | At most 100 characters. |
| `items[].locality` | string | null | no | At most 100 characters. |
| `items[].administrative_area` | string | null | no | At most 100 characters. |
| `items[].postal_code` | string | null | no | At most 32 characters. |
| `items[].po_box` | string | null | no | At most 64 characters. |
| `items[].country` | string | null | no | This item's own country. Wins over the list-level one. At most 2 characters. |
| `country` | string | null | no | An ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code applied to every item that does not name its own. At most 2 characters. |

## Example request

```bash
curl -X POST https://spaw.co/api/v1/address/suppressions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "country": "GB",
  "items": [
    "221B Baker Street, London NW1 6XE",
    {
      "address_line1": "10 Downing Street",
      "locality": "London",
      "postal_code": "SW1A 2AA"
    }
  ]
}'
```

## Responses

### 200 — How many entries were added, already present, or named no building.

```json
{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "added": 2,
        "already_suppressed": 0,
        "invalid": 0
    }
}
```

### 401 — The key is missing, malformed, or revoked.

```json
{
    "success": false,
    "error": {
        "code": "UNAUTHENTICATED",
        "message": "Provide a valid API key as a bearer token.",
        "request_id": "req_01m1kgdm4xngzmbmff68g94w0c"
    }
}
```

### 422 — The request body could not be validated; `error.errors` lists the fields.

```json
{
    "success": false,
    "error": {
        "code": "VALIDATION_FAILED",
        "message": "The email field is required.",
        "errors": {
            "email": [
                "The email field is required."
            ]
        },
        "request_id": "req_01m1kgdm4xngzmbmff68g94w0c"
    }
}
```

### 429 — Over 5 requests per second for the key. Retry after the limit resets.

```json
{
    "success": false,
    "error": {
        "code": "RATE_LIMITED",
        "message": "Too many requests. Retry after the limit resets.",
        "request_id": "req_01m1kgdm4xngzmbmff68g94w0c"
    }
}
```

## Error codes

- `UNAUTHENTICATED` — https://spaw.co/docs/errors/UNAUTHENTICATED
- `VALIDATION_FAILED` — https://spaw.co/docs/errors/VALIDATION_FAILED
- `RATE_LIMITED` — https://spaw.co/docs/errors/RATE_LIMITED

---

Canonical page: https://spaw.co/docs/api/add-address-suppressions · OpenAPI document: https://spaw.co/openapi.json · All endpoints: https://spaw.co/docs/api